In the manufacture of articles based on laminar parts made of a flexible material, such as natural or artificial leather, which are mounted on a mold or support defining the shape of the article to be obtained, the mounting of said parts onto the support is carried out manually. The arrangement that the laminar part has to adopt on the mold or support is also achieved manually, by acting directly upon the part or closing the mold.
An example of the manufacture of articles of the mentioned variety is described, for instance, in the PCT application ES2010000108, relative to a shoe manufacturing process by means of a mold and a countermold between which a volume is determined that corresponds to that of the shoe to be obtained. The upper of the shoe consists of parts made of natural or artificial leather that, once cut, are mounted on the mold, which has on the surface thereof ribs, which are shorter in height than the thickness of the laminar parts and that determine the position and contour of said parts in the upper forming. Once all the laminar parts are arranged, the last-shaped countermold is coupled inside the mold. The entire assembly described is carried out in such a way as to determine between consecutive laminar parts a network of channels, which are limited by the mold and the counter-mold, and a plastic material that upon solidification, serves as binding means of the upper parts, is injected through the channel network thereof.
The upper parts should be mounted manually inside the mold, where, in addition, they should adopt a shape corresponding to the shoe area to be defined, which shape must also be realized manually and be completed by the coupling of the countermold.